EmoPulse – Taking the smartwatch to the next level

The EmoPulse Smile is a futuristic bracelet watch that is currently seeking $300,000 in funding as an indiegogo project. The Smile (strange name…) features a flexible color touchscreen display, 4G LTE connectivity that can be used as a standalone phone, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 3.0, NFC, FM Radio, Thunderbolt, GPS, wireless charging, 3 cameras, 7 sensors and the kitchen sink. I’m kidding about the kitchen sink… but wow, it sounds like this device is going to have every feature you’d ever want in a watch and then some. It’s being designed to replace your watch, wallet, keys and phone. Too good to be true? Seems like it to me… I also can’t imagine it would be very comfortable to wear. So far the project has only raised $1550, with 48 days left. One of the comments on the project says that the finalized models are scheduled to go into production by the end of the year, but the info on their main funding page says estimated delivery is October 2013… If you would like to help fund this project, you can reserve a 128GB version of the watch for $300, or $500 for a 256GB version.

The pricing really doesn’t match what you’re getting. Feels much like a scam…like so many others on these funding websites. The curved screens are just being invented. So how did they even get a full color screen on there? Prices are just way too low and unreasonable for the tech they’re including.
The problem with these funding sites is that there’s no promise that they will deliver once it’s funded.

This is a 100% fake product (if you couldn’t tell by the fact that all of their pictures and video are renders with iPhone screenshots pasted in). Given its specs and alleged features, there is no way this company can deliver on the product they’re raising money for, especially not for $300,000. And if the technical reasons for its impossibility don’t convince you, the domain is registered by an anonymous private registrar in Australia, and there’s no record of “emopulse” as a business in California. There’s also no record that they’ve ever existed at the address they list on their website. In fact, the only information I can find about them that doesn’t come from their website is one sketchy entry on LinkedIn for the “founder” who apparently lives in Russia.

So yeah…Russian founder, Australian domain-by-proxy, non-existent US address, and a product that consists entirely of renders with an interface that would get them sued out of existence by Apple if they ever actually released it. Plus it’s Flexible Funding, meaning there’s absolutely nothing to stop the Russian guy from taking your money and running.